Southeastern Louisiana University announced that it will provide independent, scientific monitoring of the Lake Maurepas ecosystem as part of Air Products’ work on its Louisiana Clean Energy Complex.
Air Products is to start preliminary studies on the viability of the Lake Maurepas area for a proposed ‘Blue Hydrogen’ production and carbon capture and permanent sequestration project. An essential component of these initial studies will be extensive environmental monitoring of the Lake Maurepas region by Southeastern, so that any impacts of this project can be understood, and data be made publicly available.
Dan McCarthy, dean of the College of Science and Technology said Southeastern will be monitoring all facets of this project involving the lake to ensure up-to-date data and information are available. He added they will make all the data they record available to the public to ensure everyone’s right to know any findings.
The scientists from Southeastern will be monitoring the marine life populations (fish, crabs, shrimp) as well as the plant life in the surrounding wetlands, and also be on watch and studying any variations in water quality.
All findings will be uploaded to a publicly accessible website that will be housed through Southeastern and which will be announced once monitoring efforts have begun.
